Nevada is racing to bring the West Coast’s ShakeAlert earthquake early warning system into the Silver State, a move scientists say could give residents those precious few seconds to brace before the ground starts to move. The plan would link state seismologists with federal partners to design a rollout that works for both packed urban corridors and far-flung industrial sites.
As reported by KSNV, Christie Rowe, director of the Nevada Seismological Laboratory, said in a news release that the lab is “working closely with the U.S. Geological Survey on an implementation plan to bring ShakeAlert to Nevada.” KSNV also noted that some people in northern Nevada received a ShakeAlert cellphone notification about an earthquake in Mendocino County on a recent Wednesday morning, a reminder that alert zones do not stop at state borders.
Federal money cleared earlier this year helped set the table. Rep. Mark Amodei’s press office announced the inclusion of $34.85 million in appropriations to expand ShakeAlert into Nevada and directed the U.S. Geological Survey to develop a technical implementation plan, according to GovTech.
How ShakeAlert works
ShakeAlert detects the first, fast-moving seismic waves near an earthquake’s source and uses rapid-fire algorithms to estimate the location and magnitude. It then pushes alerts to phones and partnered systems so people and infrastructure can take protective action, according to ShakeAlert. It is not fortune-telling so much as ultra-quick number crunching…